India opposes Lakhvi’s release

New Delhi: India on Friday asked the Pakistani authorities to ensure that 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is not released from jail.

The issue was also raised in Rajya Sabha, as members protested against the release.

Talking to reporters here, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said: “All documents related to his involvement in the Mumbai attack case have not been presented in Pakistani courts. Hence the court has ordered his release”.

Rijiju said: “We want that the Pakistan government should take this matter seriously and take steps to ensure that he doesn’t come out of jail”.

A brief uproar was created in Rajya Sabha as members raised this issue.

Raising the issue in Zero Hour, Pramod Tiwari of the Congress said: “The Mumbai terror attack happened in India. If a criminal incident takes place inside country, the legal case should be filed within the boundary of the country. Lakhvi is under arrest in Pakistan; he has been released on bail.”

Tiwari however did not get the permission to raise the issue as Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien pointed out there was no proper notice for it.

“It is a matter of national interest,” said Tiwari, urging the chair for permission to raise the issue.

He was, however, told to raise the issue in the next sitting of the house.

Congress leader Rajeev Shukla, however, said: “The matter will be redundant by the next day… If he has been granted bail today (Friday) how can we raise it later”.

Kurien then pointed out that the issue is already on record in the house.

The Islamabad High Court on Friday declared Lakhvi’s detention orders illegal and ordered his immediate release.

Lakhvi, along with six other suspects, was under detention since February 2009.

He is accused of being the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008 in which 166 people, many of them foreigners, were killed and hundreds wounded.